Trade is a film directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner, who previously created the film Sommersturm, which Roland Emmerich saw and made him want to work with Kreuzpaintner.

Trade is based on a New York Times Magazine cover story about sex-trafficking in the United States. The story entitled The Girls Next Door was written by Peter Landesman and generated much discussion about sex slavery in the U.S. when it was first published in January 2004. An online version of the article can be purchased from the New York Times Archive.

The project was formerly known under the working title Welcome To America which later became a tagline for the film. The tagline on the new US poster is "You'll pay for this."

Trade was shot in Mexico and the United States. The film was released in the U.S. on September 28, 2007 and on October 18 in Germany.